Love is “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.”

Peck does not distinguish between love of self and love of others. We cannot be a source of strength without nurturing our own strength.

So love is about growth. You may even extend Peck’s definition to include mental and physical growth in addition to spiritual growth.

It involves effort to improve yourself as a human being. It is a form of work or courage. It is attending to your own growth.

How, specifically, can we express love to ourselves? Here are some ideas:

Take responsibility for your part in a situation and the creation of your life.

Get to know yourself so that you know what matters and where you want to grow.

Tell the truth and keep promises to yourself so that you trust and respect yourself.

Remember that you have a spark of the divine in you, that you are valuable.

Recognize that acting loving toward yourself is not always doing what you want or what makes you happy. My kids might want ice cream for dinner every night, but giving them what they want in this case is not caring for them.